Pitcher&#39;s rubber



Feb. 6, 1940. E H LOVE 2,189,428

PITCHERS RUBBER Filed Deo. 12, 195s Patented Feb. 6, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1 Claim.

This invention relates to improvements in foot plates, ,commonly designated as rubbers, which serve to give the pitcher of a baseball team a better footing and to define the location at which 5 he must stand as he starts to throw the ball to the batter. y

At the present time it is customary to make use of a heavy mat of soft rubber which, under base'- ball rules, is six inches wide and two feet long,

10 and which is fastened down to the ground in the desired position. 'Ihis mat or rubber serves for this purpose, but there is rapidly created in front of it, by the toe of the pitchers shoe, a hole which must be `constantly refilled and which even with 15 care and such constant refilling, gives an unstable and unequally acting footing which contributes often to an erratic delivery of the ball as to wildness and inaccuracy of the pitch.

The present invention is designed to correct as 20 far as possible such conditions.

The objects of the invention are:

To provide a pitchers rubber which conforms to the rules of baseball which will correctly define the position of the pitcher, and will protect the 25 ground surface forward of the rubber proper and maintain a substantially uniform front, and ledge depth.

A further object is to provide a rubber having securing means inherently protected or shielded I from contact with the pitchers foot.

The means by which the foregoing and other objects are accomplished, and the method of their accomplishment, will readily be understood from `the following specification on reference to the I6 accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective View of the rubber.

Fig. 2 is a plan of the rubber; and

Fig. 3 a transverse section on the line III- III of Fig. 2. I

'40 Referring now to the drawing in which the various parts are indicated by numerals:

I0 is a rectangular strip or mat of soft rubber, which, in conformity with baseball rules, is six inches wide and twenty-four inches long, but

45 which under changes in rules or other variations in conditions may obviously be of different width and length.

l l is an integral front co-extensive in length with and extending downward from the forward edge of the mat I0 substantially at right angles thereto, and forming a shallow ledge or shoulder along such forward edge. l2 is an apron integral with and extending forwardly from the lower 5 edge of this shoulder. Preferably the mat, ledge and apron are of substantially uniform thickness, in the instant example being about one inch thick. The height of the ledge is relatively much lessthan the width of the mat and the apron somewhat wider, the apron establishing the depth of the ledge.

I3 are spikes'having thin flat heads I4, which heads are embedded in the mat and apron approximately at the center of its depth. All the spikes may be of equal length, or if desired, the spikes at the forward -edge of the apron somewhat shorter.

In placing the rubber the ground surface l 5 is shaped to conform to the under surfaces of the mat and of the apron, and to the back of the ledge so as tc solidly support each thereof. The rubber with the embedded spikes is positioned over this prepared surface and the `spikes driven down to solidly hold the structure in place.

In ordinary use the pitcher stands on the mat portion of the rubber as in using the ordinary type mat with the toe of one foot ordinarily overhanging the forward edge, and makes the pitch. As the pitch is completed the apron I2 30 protects the underlying earth and prevents the under-cutting of the ground in front of the mat, and at the same time presents a yielding surface for the spikes or cleats of the shoe.

I claim: y

An article of the class described, comprising an elongated rectangular mat having a co-extensive, relatively shallow edge portion extending downward therefrom, and a co-extensive rectangular apron extending forward from the lower edge of said edge'portion, said mat, edge portion and apron being an integral structure of soft rubber; and securing means comprising a plurality of iiat headed spikes, said spike heads being embedded in said mat and said apron and said spikes extending therebelow.

EDWARD H. LOVE. 

